1 Day Tour

One Day photography tour in Havana led by Louis Alarcon.

If you are a traveler visiting Havana for the first time, without a doubt I advise you to participate in a 1-day photo trip in Havana to get to know the city in-depth, get away from tourist-infested areas, discover special corners, and learn how to approach people to obtain great portraits.

I am Louis Alarcon, a professional photographer and photography teacher 100% specialized in Cuban photography.
This is my major specialization; I am not a tour guide with a camera strapped to my shoulder – I am passionate about photography, lighting, teaching and the Cuban culture, and I organize photography tours around all of Cuba, as well as daily photo tours in Havana, where I undertake most of my personal projects, as you can see in the following link.

Cuba is the paradise of human photography, street photography, and is a country with an ideal lighting and a fantastic place to obtain fantastic street portraits. Moreover, Cubans are extremely kind and usually collaborate with photographers.

During these last few years I have taught/guided hundreds of photographers –for the most part, “travel photographers”– and I have taught them how to approach the more real Cuba, far from touristic streets, showing them how to improve the photographic look and how to relate with people to obtain natural photographs of great beauty.

In this one-day photo trip in Havana, the main subjects are: How to use the camera in a simple manner to focus on Cuban life and forget about the camera’s technicalities, discovering streets away from tourism, visit special places like a boxing gym, neighborhoods in the outskirts of the city, visits to people of the Afro-Cuban religion, visits to family homes, markets, architecture, panoramic views of the city, etc…

More activities, depending on the day : Markets in Havana, Outlying districts (no tourism there), Boxers training, Old Havana (I like to call “the new old Havana”), Graffiti and paintings on the walls of Che Guevara & Callejón Hamel (special street painted), Religion: visit a house of a “Santero” (Afro-Cuban priest), Colonial houses (old furniture and old Cuban owners), Outdoor Architecture (Buildings with charm), Panoramic photography from the other side of the city, Malecon life, Sunset in special places, One of the most special and high terraces in Havana, Tobacco factory , Charming streets (street photography and contact with the people are two of the strongest points of this photo tour), Portraits, Review and analysis of pictures, Fototeca de la Habana Vieja (National photography institute), Visits to photographic expositions, Looking for changes in the new Cuba, Hemingway route (Hotel – bodeguida and Floridida Pubs where the writer was living in Cuba), Old Cuban cars, Cuban parties, Afro-Cuban dancers, Visits to painters in our day to day, Retro amusement park, Family houses, Contact with Cuban photographers and other professionals, Old Gyms in Havana.

I also help my students understand which photographs should not be taken in Cuba, since due to the country’s characteristics, it is better not to.

This is an exciting photo tour day where we will discuss lighting, photography, the Cuban culture, how to approach people in a friendly way to get our portraits, and how to obtain professional photographs by avoiding the most common mistakes made by amateur photographers.

At the north eastern region of Cuba, in Viñales and in Pinar del Rio you can find Guillermo Seijo. This Cuban photographer has been offering photo tours and photography workshops for years, and showing Valle de Viñales to travellers interested in getting to know the rural culture, good landscapes and human photography.

Guille (that’s how everyone calls him there) is authorized by the Cuban National Cultural Tourism Company, called PARADISO, to organize these guided photo tours.

Photo tours in Viñales and Pinar del Rio with Guillermo Seijo

Guille will help you get integrated with the Cuban environment; you will see how simple it is to approach people and make friendships and good portraits if you have someone from Cuba guiding you.

Viñales has a great advantage over other places such as Havana, which is that by being a small town, people’s personalities are much more relaxed and laid back than in the Cuban capital.

You should know that Guillermo doesn’t have just one route set for his photo tours; you can let him know what you’d like to visit. You may want something more rural, or maybe something with more landscapes, a long tour, or maybe a short one. There are many possible excursions depending on what you seek, and if you are also interested in photographing birds, you can tell him so and he will lead you to the best spots.

Enjoy this tour with a great photographer and a great person… you’ll see for yourself.